MST wants more direct contact with Lula in 2024

O MST (Landless Rural Workers Movement) says it is dissatisfied with the lack of face-to-face meetings and meetings with the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in the 1st year of his management. The expectation, according to the movement, is that there will be greater rapprochement between the two in 2024.

Despite having met personally with Lula in 2023, the MST coordinator, João Paulo Rodrigues, told the Power360 that the finding is in relation to broader meetings, which involve the national coordination of popular movements.

The expectation of greater contact, according to Rodrigues, is also shared by other organizations, such as Popular Movements CenterO MPA (Small Farmers Movement), the MTST (Homeless Workers Movement), among others. He says that the “conquest” popular movements and their relationship with the president are “to whom” than expected.

At the same time, Rodrigues says that Lula's 1st level ministers are “very helpful to the MST”, but did not specify which ones he was referring to. The Movement's coordinator, however, believes that Lula should not “outsource” for ministers this relationship and that the government “it has to change” the approach in 2024.

“We have nothing to complain about the ministers. Our problem is a political command meeting, when more than 1 minister comes together, with President Lula, to deal with the country's affairs and agrarian reform“, he stated.

ELECTIONS 2024

Lula's possible approach, according to Rodrigues, will also impact the result of the 2024 municipal elections. He sees this contact as “essential”since popular organizations have a strong and organized presence in the municipalities.

“The party is in charge of this, not necessarily the government. But I imagine that the PT and the government must do the math”he declared.

The Workers' Party, despite having won the Presidency of the Republic and having one of the largest parties in Congress, has been losing ground in the cities with each election. In November, with an eye on the election, Lula already said that she wants to travel more around Brazil and “visit works”.

MST BALANCE SHEET

In a video released on Sunday (Dec 31, 2023) with an overview of the last year, the movement's National Coordinator, Ceres Hadich, called the PT member's management an our government” and praised the resumption of “signals” of some public policies dear to the MST, such as the Safra Plan and the PAA (Food Acquisition Program).

“They [as políticas públicas] They are fundamental for us to understand that Brazil is getting back on track. But more than that, for us to understand that our country is still in permanent disputes that will need to be determined by social struggle”he stated.

The statement clashed with the speech of João Pedro Stedile, leader of the MST, who days before had said that 2023 was the “worst year” for settled families. However, in a conciliatory tone, he said “to understand” the Lula government's delay with agrarian reform.

“In terms of settled families, it is the worst year of all 40 of the MST. But we understand. It's part of the fight. We even say that the advancement of popular agrarian reform is no longer measured by hectares, but by ideas, political and social achievements”he said.

Stedile's statement was refuted by the government. “We resumed the agrarian reform that had been paralyzed since 2015. We settled 7,200 families and regularized another 40,000 in 2023. This is the highest number since the strike. There were no resources in the budget left for this year and it is still modest in 2024. Therein lies Stédile’s criticism”said Paulo Teixeira, Minister of Agrarian Development, in an interview with the newspaper The globe.

Teixeira declared that among the strategies that must be adopted this year is the allocation of land that currently makes up the stock of Incra (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform) and public areas designated for agrarian reform.